Siri – Tech Savvy Life

Quickly Add Items to Grocery List with Siri

This post discusses how to use Siri to add items to grocery and other specific lists in the Reminders app hands-free. By enabling voice commands, users can quickly create reminders without opening the app. The post also highlights the importance of keeping organized lists and adapting to technology changes.

RAYMOND OGLESBY @RaymondOglesby2
September 30, 2025 –4 minutes read time

Overview

We usually only remember to add salt to our Grocery List when we are using the last of it at dinner. That means, by the time we are writing our shopping list, we have usually forgotten all about it! Fortunately, we can ask Siri to add items to our Grocery List in the Reminders app without interrupting what we are doing! If you want the reminder added to a different list, that’s possible too. You just have to phrase your request a little differently.

Using Siri to add items to specific lists is pretty handy, as it’s faster than manually opening the Reminders app and adding them yourself. We like to use Siri to quickly add items to our Grocery List when we notice we are running low on something. Let’s explore how to use Siri to add reminders to specific lists.

Why You Will Like This Tip

Quickly add items to your Grocery list in Reminders hands-free.
Build your list without having to open the app.
Add items to lists on the go, so you do not forget by the time you’re sitting down to write your shopping list.

System Requirements

This tip was run on an iPhone 14 Pro using iOS 18.6.
Click here to learn how to update your iPhone to the latest iOS version.

Using Siri to Add Items to Your Grocery List

First, to type in a response to Siri, you need to enable the feature. Head to:

Settings > Accessibility > Siri

and turn the toggle Type to Siri to the ON position. Refer to the image below:

Next, lets enable the Side button to activate Siri. Head to:

Settings> Siri > Talk to Siri

and turn the toggle Press Side Button for Siri to the ON position. See the image below:

Grocery 2 — Setting Press Side Button for Siri option

Now, activate Siri by saying “Siri”/”Hey Siri,” or by pressing and holding the Side button. Then, simply say or type, “Add [item] to [list name].” For example, we told Siri, “Add eggs to grocery list.” Once the item has been added, a confirmation window will appear. You can tap the confirmation window to open the list and manually make any desired changes. See the following image:

Grocery 3 — Adding an item to the Grocery List

This also works with more than just grocery lists. If you want the reminder added to a specific Reminders list, instead of saying, “Hey Siri, remind me to grocery shop,” say something like,

“Siri add grocery shopping to my Personal Reminders list,” or
“Add Bass pro shop to my Monthly bills list,” instead.

Note! If the list does not exist, Siri will prompt you to create it. In our example, if the Monthly bills list does not exist, you can make it, and then the item will be added.

Refer to the image below:

Grocery 4 — Creating a new list and adding an item to it

Next, open your Reminders app to view your Grocery and Monthly bills lists. See the image below:

If you have multiple reminders list that you like to keep organized, quickly using Siri to add reminders to a list is a great way to do that.

Disclaimer

Technology is constantly evolving, and smartphone and desktop tech rarely remains static. Therefore, the information in this post is only accurate as of the date it was written. Blog posts that are older than six months may contain instructions that are no longer compatible with your device or operating system. We hope that the content from previous posts continues to function as intended. Thank you for reading TechSavvy.Life, where technology works for you.

Quote For the Day

“The best minds of my generation are thinking about how to make people click ads.”

– Jeff Hammerbacher, Data Scientist and Co-founder of Cloudera

(X) Twitter Info

You are finished. Please feel free to share this post! One way to share is via Twitter.

Just click the Tweet icon below. This will launch Twitter where you click its icon to post the Tweet.

Checkout TechSavvy.Life for blog posts on smartphones, PCs, and Macs! You may email us at contact@techsavvy.life for comments or questions.
Tweet

I Would Like to Hear From You

We value your feedback! Was this post helpful? Please share your comments with us. If you have a tech question related to your computer or smart device, feel free to reach out. Just send an email to contact@techsavvy.life, and be sure to include the device, app, and version you are using. To assist us further, you can also attach screenshots related to your inquiry.

Author’s ebook

Author’s eBook

The author’s Vietnam eBook on the “Battle for Tra Bong Vietnam: Events and Aftermath” can be accessed from a Kindle device or the Kindle App for a desktop or smartphone. The apps are free.

The author’s Vietnam eBook on the Battle for Tra Bong Vietnam: Events and Aftermath

How to Change Siri’s Voice on iPhone

This post provides a guide on changing Siri’s voice on iPhones. Users can select different accents and voice options in the Settings app under Siri. The process is straightforward, enhancing user experience by personalizing Siri’s voice to be more relatable and understandable. Compatibility depends on current iOS versions.

RAYMOND OGLESBY @RaymondOglesby2
April 29, 2025 – 3 minutes read time

Overview

Tired of your current Siri voice? Let’s learn how to change it. Apple has recorded actors’ voices and run them through its neural text-to-speech engine in an effort to make Siri sound more natural, so you have more options than ever for how Siri’s voice should sound.

If you have not used Siri before, when you first use the virtual assistant, you will be prompted to choose a voice for it, but if you have, you can change the voice Siri is using manually. So, how do you change Siri’s voice? You can customize Siri’s voice in the Settings app. Let’s find out how.

Why You Will Like This Tip

Customize Siri’s voice to one that you like the best.
Make Siri more understandable by matching the voice to your country’s native accent.

System Requirements

This tip was performed on an iPhone 14 Pro running iOS 18.4.1

Click here to learn how to update your iPhone to the latest iOS version.

Change Siri’s Voice

First, open Settings, and tap either Siri or Apple Intelligence & Siri (the menu option will appear differently depending on whether or not you have an Apple Intelligence-enabled device). Refer to the below image:

Next, tap Voice. See the image below:

Now, under Variations, you can choose between American, Australian, British, Indian, Irish, or South African. See the following image:

Next, after you have decided on your Variation, you can select a Voice. Depending on which Variation you chose, you should have between 2-5 different voices. Refer to the image below:

Now, once you have found one you like, it will take some time for your iPhone to completely download the voice, though you do not need to wait in Settings for it to do so. See the image below:

If you change the voice of your Siri on your iPhone, it will change it across your synced devices.

That’s how to change Siri’s voice. It’s that easy!

Disclaimer

Quote For the Day

. “Cars will soon have the Internet on the dashboard. I worry that this will distract me from my texting.”

― Andy Borowitz

X (Twitter) Info

That’s it. Please feel free to share this post! One way to share is via Twitter.

Just click the Tweet icon below. This will launch Twitter where you click its icon to post the Tweet.

vCheckout TechSavvy.Life for blog posts on smartphones, PCs, and Macs! You may email us at contact@techsavvy.life for comments or questions.
Tweet

I Would Like to Hear Frim You

Author’s eBook

The author’s Vietnam eBook on the Battle for Tra Bong Vietnam: Events and Aftermath

How to Turn on Captions in Siri on iPhone and iPad

The all-new compact Siri interface, available with iOS and iPadOS 14, renders just a small animated orb at the display bottom along with a compact, banner-style response that slides into view.

RAYMOND OGLESBY @RaymondOglesby2
October 13, 2021

The all-new compact Siri interface, available with iOS and iPadOS 14, renders just a small animated orb at the display bottom along with a compact, banner-style response that slides into view. Lets explore how this is done with a few simple steps.

This is for iPhone and iPad

*Copyright Scott Adams, Inc./Distributed by Universal Uclick for UFS*

That’s an improvement over Siri in earlier iOS version that would take up the whole display. To keep the interface as minimal as possible, Siri in iOS and iPadOS 14 does not show Caption for spoken text nor does it display a live transcription of what you have spoken.

Thankfully, you can easily enable Siri Captions on an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. Doing so will help you verify that you have heard Siri’s response correctly.

Enable Siri Captions

First, open Settings on your iPhone or iPad. Refer to below image:

Next, in Settings, tap Siri & Search. See below image:

Now, in Siri & Search, scroll down and tap Siri Responses. See following image:

Next, in Siri Responses, toggle the switch beside Always Show Siri Captions into the ON position.

Note! if you have trouble seeing toggle colors, you can turn on toggle labels in Settings as well. Refer to below image:

Now, close Settings. Launch Siri and ask it a question. If your phone is not silenced, Siri will speak the response, and you will see the same response written on the screen in the form of a Caption. See below image:

Disable Siri Captions

If you ever want to disable the Captions, revisit

Settings > Siri & Search > Siri Responses

and toggle Always Show Siri Captions to OFF.

Note! you will still see Siri’s responses as Captions if your device is set to silent mode and you have Spoken Responses in Settings > Siri & Search > Siri Responses set to When Silent Mode is OFF.

Quote For the Day

It has not yet become obvious to me that there’s no real problem. I cannot define the real problem; therefore, I suspect there’s no real problem, but I’m not sure there’s no real problem.
Richard Feynman

You are finished. Please feel free to share this post! One way to share is via Twitter.

Just click the Tweet icon below. This will launch Twitter where you click its icon to post the Tweet.

Check out TechSavvy.Life for blog posts on smartphones, PCs, and Macs! You may email us at contact@techsavvy.life for comments or questions.
Tweet

I Would Like to Hear From You

Please feel free to leave a comment. I would love hearing from you. Do you have a computer or smart device tech question? I will do my best to answer your inquiry. Just send an email to contact@techsavvy.life. Please mention the device, app and version that you are using. To help us out, you can send screenshots of your data related to your question.

The author’s Vietnam eBook on the Battle for Tra Bong Vietnam: Events and Aftermath

How to Set Your Music App Using Siri on iPhone and iPad

In iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 or higher you can train Siri to learn your go-to music app. Siri will ask you which audio app you would like to use and remembers your choice.

In iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 or higher you can train Siri to learn your go-to music app. Siri will ask you which audio app you would like to use and remembers your choice.

This if for the iPhone and iPad running iOS or iPadOS 14 or higher

Dilbert and Board — *Copyright Scott Adams, Inc./Distributed by Universal Uclick for UFS*

First, update your iOS/iPadOS to 14 or higher. Next, launch Siri. On newer Apple devices, you can do this by saying “Hey Siri” (if you have it turned on) or long-press the Side/Top/Power button on your iPhone or iPad with Face ID. Refer to below image:

On older iPhones or iPads with a Touch ID sensor, long-press the Home button.

Now, Siri will start listening for a voice command when you see its icon appear on-screen. Ask your phone or tablet to play a song, artist, podcast, or audiobook. For example, you can say “Play Carole King,” or “Play Horse With No Name,” or “Listen to the Vergecast.” See below image:

Next, your device will ask you which music or audio app you would like to listen to the song, artist, podcast, or audiobook on. Tap the app that you would like to use. See following image:

Occasionally, Siri might ask for your permission to access an app’s data before it can control playback. Just grant the voice assistant permission by tapping the Yes button from the pop-up screen. Refer to below image:

Music 4 — Giving permission to access app

Now, Siri’s on-screen overlay will transform into an audio widget. You can control playback, volume, and more from this window. Tapping outside of the widget will make it disappear, but your music, audio, or podcast will continue playing in the background. See below image for the jazz song “Touching Peace.”

For the full playback screen from Apple Music, see following image:

Music 6 — Siri audio widget in full screen

From now on, if you ask Siri to play a song or audio program, your device will default to whichever app you selected. It will no longer automatically open the Apple Music app.

As mentioned, setting the default music app is not a setting “baked” into your device. On occasion, Siri might prompt you to reselect which audio app you would like to use to help train the Voice Assistant.

Also, you are not locked into only using the app you just chose. Instead, you can be specific in your command to Siri to open a song, artist, podcast, or audiobook in a particular app that you have installed on your device. For example, you can say, “Listen to 1984 by George Orwell in Audible.”

Quote For the Day

He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.
Friedrich Nietzsche

You are finished. Please feel free to share this post! One way to share is via Twitter.

Just click the Tweet icon below. This will launch Twitter where you click its icon to post the Tweet.

Check out TechSavvy.Life for blog posts on smartphones, PCs, and Macs! You may email us at contact@techsavvy.life for comments or questions.
Tweet

I Would Like to Hear From You

The author’s Vietnam eBook on the Battle for Tra Bong: Events and Aftermath

How to Stop Siri When Pressing Hold Button on iPhone

It is easy to accidentally trigger Siri on your iPhone by pressing and holding either the Side button (on newer models), or the Home button (on older ones). If you are like me, this is annoying. I find myself trying to stop Siri by pressing harder, which only changes Siri help commands. Or, I find myself turning off the iPhone by accident. Fortunately, there is an easy way to disable this feature. Siri voice commands will still be available.

It is easy to accidentally trigger Siri on your iPhone by pressing and holding either the Side button (on newer models), or the Home button (on older ones). If you are like me, this is annoying. I find myself trying to stop Siri by pressing harder, which only changes Siri help commands. Or, I find myself turning off the iPhone by accident. Fortunately, there is an easy way to disable this feature. Siri voice commands will still be available. Let’s explore how to do this.

This is for the iPhone

Dilbert and Work — *Copyright Scott Adams, Inc./Distributed by Universal Uclick for UFS*

To Tweet about this post, click the Tweet icon below to launch Twitter, then click its Tweet icon to post.

Check out TechSavvy.Life for their blog posts on smartphone apps, PCs. and Macs!
Tweet

Accessing Accessibility

First, launch Settings by tapping the Gear icon. Refer to below image:

Next, swipe down the list and tap Accessibility. See below image:

Stop Siri 2 — Accessing Accessibility option

The Side or Home Button

Now, swipe down until you locate the Physical and Motor section. The next step will be different depending on which model of iPhone you have.

On iPhone X or later; Tap the Side Button.
On older iPhones: Tap the Home Button,

See following image:

Stop Siri 3 — Accessing the Side Button button on iPhone XR

Next, locate the section labeled Press and Hold to Speak. Refer to below image:

Stop Siri

You will notice that the Siri option is On. Now, tap the Off option. See below image:

Now, exit all Settings screens.. The next time you press and hold your Side or Home button, Siti will not be triggered.

You will still be able to launch Siri with your voice using the “Hey Siri” feature if enabled.

I hope you have found this post helpful. If so, click the Tweet icon below. This will launch Twitter where you click its icon to post the Tweet.

I have found TechSavvy.Life blog posts extremely helpful. Check them out for posts on smart phone apps, Macs and PCs!
Tweet

I Would Like to Hear From You

Please feel free to leave a comment. I would love hearing from you. Do you have a computer or smart device tech question? I will do my best to answer your inquiry. Please mention the device, app and version that you are using. To help us out, you can send screenshots of your data related to your question.

The author’s Vietnam eBook on the Battle for Tra Bong: Events and Aftermath

How to Use Spotify with Siri on iPhone

If you’re running iOS 13 or higher, you can directly ask Siri to play your favorite playlist, song or an artist on Spotify. iOS 13+ expands third-party support for Siri which now includes Spotify. This means you can get Apple Music style playback controls with Siri on your iPhone. Here’s how to set it up.

If you already have the Spotify app installed, and you’re logged into your account, all you have to do is start talking to Siri. Say “Play the Beatles on Spotify”.

This is for iPhone or iPad running iOS 13 or above

Dilbert Goals — *Copyright Scott Adams, Inc./Distributed by Universal Uclick for UFS*

Enable Spotify Access to Siri

As this is your first time using Spotify with Siri, it will ask for permission to access your Spotify data. Simpily tap the Yes button. Refer to below image:

Siri and Spotify 1 — Giving permission to access Spotify

Spotify will start playing the music you requested. You’ll see a Now Playing widget playback control on the Siri screen.

You can also control the Siri access for Spotify from your iPhone.

Open Settings
Select Spotify
Select Siri & Search. See following image:

Siri and Spotify 2 — Accessing Siri and Search

At the bottom of the screen, toggle on the Use with Ask Siri feature to enable Siri access for Spotify. Refer to below image:

Siri and Spotify 3 — Toggle on the Use with Ask Siri

Control Spotify on Using Siri

Once Spotify is connected to Siri, you can use it to play any song, album, artist or playlist. You can also get specific about albums and years of release.

Below are some Spotify commands you can use with Siri:

Play [song name] on Spotify
Play [album name] on Spotify
Play [artist name] on Spotify
Play on Spotify
Play my liked songs on Spotify
Shuffle on Spotify
Play the latest album by [artist name] on Spotify
Play [genre] music on Spotify

Other than these, you can use the standard playback controls in Siri as well. For instance, you can ask Siri to play, pause, skip, repeat, shuffle or go to the previous track. Refer to below image:

Siri and Spotify 4 — The playback control

On your iPhone, you can also open Spotify and see what is playing at the bottom of the screen. See below image:

Siri and Spotify 5 — Accessing Spotify to see what is playing

The following image is an example of using the Spotify command Play Easy Listening on Spotify:

Siri and Spotify 6 — Listening to Easy Listening on Spotify

For now, Siri only supports playback features in Spotify. You can’t use Siri to interact with the app. For instance, you can’t search for something like a song in Spotify using Siri. You also can’t use Siri to add a song to a playlist either.

I Would Like to Hear from You

The author’s Vietnam eBook on the Battle for Tra Bong: Events and Aftermath

Overview

Why You Will Like This Tip

System Requirements

Using Siri to Add Items to Your Grocery List

Disclaimer

Quote For the Day

(X) Twitter Info

I Would Like to Hear From You

Share this:

Overview

Why You Will Like This Tip

System Requirements

Change Siri’s Voice

Disclaimer

Quote For the Day

X (Twitter) Info

I Would Like to Hear Frim You

Share this:

Enable Siri Captions

Disable Siri Captions

Quote For the Day

I Would Like to Hear From You

Share this:

Quote For the Day

I Would Like to Hear From You

Share this:

Accessing Accessibility

The Side or Home Button

Stop Siri

I Would Like to Hear From You

Share this:

Enable Spotify Access to Siri

Control Spotify on Using Siri

I Would Like to Hear from You

Share this: